Miki Rofu

Rofū's birthplace in Tatsuno

Miki Rofu

Miki ROFU ( Japanese 三木露風 , real name: Miki Masao ( 三木操 ); * 23. June 1889 in Tatsuno in the prefecture of Hyogo , † 29. December 1964 ) was a Japanese poet, children's author and essayist . Rofū is an important representative of Japanese symbolism.

Life

Rofū was born in Tatsuno in Hyōgo prefecture as the eldest son of Setsujirō Miki and Kata Midorikawa (1869-1962). Kata Midorikawa married at the age of 15. She was a nurse and a significant figure in the Meiji period women's movement . After his parents divorced in 1874, Rofū grew up with his grandfather. He attended elementary and middle school in Tatsuno and wrote poetry, haikus and tanka as a pupil . At the age of 17 he published his first collection of poems, and at the age of 20 his representative work “Haien”. Rofū was considered a precocious talent and he quickly achieved a lot of attention together with Kitahara Hakushū . He studied literature at Waseda University and Keiō University .

Around 1918 he joined the literary endeavors to Suzuki Miekichi's magazine " Akai Tori " ( 赤 い 鳥 , German "Red Bird") and took care of children's literature. Three years later he published a collection of children's songs under the title "Shinjushima" ( 真珠 島 ). This also included the well-known song "Akatonbo" ( 赤 と ん ぼ , dt. "Darter") , set to music by Yamada Kōsaku .

From 1916 to 1924 Rofū worked in Kamiiso (today: Hokuto ) on Hokkaidō in a Trappist monastery as a teacher of literature. During this time he was baptized in 1922 and joined the Catholic faith. This stay and the faith find u. a. their expression in the essay "Shūdōin seikatsu" ( 修道院 生活 ) and "Nihon katorikkukyōshi" ( 日本 カ ト リ ッ ク 教 史 ). In 1927 the Vatican awarded him the Order of Knights of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem for his writings on Catholicism .

In 1963 he was awarded the "Order of Merit on the Purple Ribbon". Rofū died of a cerebral haemorrhage in 1962 at the age of 75 while driving a taxi. Posthumously he was awarded the Order of the Holy Treasure . Since 1985, his hometown has held a competition for new children's songs, in which a prize named after Rofū is awarded ( 三 木 露 風 賞 , Miki Rofū-shō ).

Works (selection)

Poetry

• 1909 sharks ( 廃 園 )
• 1910 Sabishiki akebono ( 寂 し き 曙 )
• 1913 Rofushu ( 露 風 集 )
• 1915 Ryōshin ( 良心 )
• 1920 Sei to ai ( 生 と 恋 )
• 1921 Shinjushima ( 真珠 島 )
• 1922 Shinkō no akebono ( 信仰 の 曙 )
• 1926 Kami to hito ( 神 と 人 )
• 1926 Trapisuto kashū ( ト ラ ピ ス ト 歌集 ) - anthology

Essays

• 1925 Shūdōin sappitsu ( 修道院 雑 筆 )
• 1926 Shūdōin seikatsu ( 修道院 生活 )
• 1928 Waga ayumeru michi ( 我 が 歩 め る 道 )
• 1929 Nihon katorikkukyōshi ( 日本 カ ト リ ツ ク 教 史 )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 三 木 露 風 . In: デ ジ タ ル 版 日本人 名 大 辞典 + Plus at kotobank.jp. Kodansha, 2009, accessed January 6, 2012 (Japanese). 
2. ↑ 家 森 長治 郎 (Chojiro Iemori): 三 木 露 風 研究 （1） 竜 野 時代 (A Research on Rofu Miki PT. I the Tatsuno Period). (PDF; 547 kB) (No longer available online.) In: Department of the Japanese Literature, Nara University of Education . 1968, archived from the original on December 26, 2013 ; Retrieved January 6, 2012 (Japanese). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ 碧川 道夫 . In: デ ジ タ ル 版 日本人 名 大 辞典 + Plus at kotobank.jp. Kodansha, 2009, accessed October 4, 2012 (Japanese). 
4. ↑ 三 木 露 風 . (No longer available online.) In: 早 稲 田 と 文学 . Waseda University, 1998, archived from the original on October 1, 2016 ; Retrieved January 6, 2012 (Japanese). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
5. ↑ Tatsuno's website ( Memento of the original from February 21, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. including the award-winning works (Japanese) 

literature

• S. Noma (Ed.): Miki Rofū . In: Japan. An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Kodansha, 1993, ISBN 4-06-205938-X , p. 960.

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Miki is the family name, Rofū the first name.